Featured Blog
One week after International Women’s Day, a coalition of organisations and experts convened to address the rising trend of women’s criminalisation driven by poverty in a side event at the 68th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York on 15 March. The event highlighted the intersections of gender, […]
4th April 2024
Featured Blog
Figure 1: Principles of Growth Wheel In this blog written for PRI, the authors Makayla Agyemang and Dr Sarah Lewis from UK-based Penal Reform Solutions, present the “Growth Project” that they have implemented in English prisons to foster rehabilitative relationships between people detained and staff in prison facilities. The project is based on Dr […]
14th February 2024
In many countries around the world, criminal justice fines disproportionately affect the poorest and most marginalised in society, effectively creating tiered justice systems. In this blog, Jean Galbraith and Rheem Brooks from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School summarise the findings of new research and discuss what international human rights and criminal justice communities […]
16th October 2023
On 8 – 9 September, PRI joined the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation (IPPF) 150th anniversary celebrations in Geneva to mark IPPF’s contributions to criminal justice reform. Over the two-day event, PRI staff from Europe, Middle East and North Africa, South Caucasus and Sub-Saharan Africa took part in discussions on challenges and opportunities for supporting […]
26th September 2022
This expert blog by human rights expert and commentator, Vicki Prais, examines the issues faced by people in prison without proof of legal identity. Vicki explains how the absence of ID can in itself lead to detention for some people, and also causes a range of problems for those detained or leaving prison impacting on […]
9th October 2020
La pandémie de la COVID-19 continue de sévir à travers le monde et aucun pays n’est épargné. En Afrique, son impact varie d’un pays à un autre et les pays en situation post-conflit en sont durement éprouvés. C’est le cas de la République centrafricaine, pays en phase de reconstruction et de stabilisation avec la présence […]
25th August 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world and no country is being spared. In Africa, the impact of the virus varies from one country to another but post-conflict countries have been severely hit. In Central African Republic, where PRI is closely collaborating with United Nations mission MINUSCA to support reconstruction and stabilisation efforts […]
25th August 2020
En español. The coronavirus pandemic has brought a whole host of responses by prisons and wider justice systems, but the plight of women has been neglected or overtly disregarded. Without a gender-specific assessment and response to coronavirus, lives of women in criminal justice systems are at risk and human rights violations will continue. This expert […]
4th June 2020
In this blog to mark International Women’s Day celebrated on Sunday 8 March 2020, Penal Reform International’s Executive Director, Florian Irminger, reflects on the reasons for women who find themselves in prisons from Central African Republic to Costa Rica.
10th March 2020
“It all started with a meeting…” 30 years ago, Vivien Stern, Ahmed Othmani and Hans Tulkens created Penal Reform International. They had in common the belief we still cherish, as stated by Nelson Mandela: “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails”. In other words, the health of criminal justice […]
21st November 2019
Earlier this month, Florian Irminger joined Penal Reform International as its new Executive Director. In his first blog for PRI, Florian reflects upon the organisation’s practical approach to penal reform, which has enabled PRI to play a key role in implementing international standards and provide effective and tailored solutions to criminal justice problems worldwide. It […]
13th September 2018
Educational opportunities and rehabilitation programmes that take the specific needs of women into account are needed in Uganda in order to break the cycles of poverty among women and ensure that they are not left behind, says PRI’s Africa Programme Manager Doreen N Kyazze. There is a growing number of women and girls entering the criminal justice system […]
22nd February 2018